Losing his opening game of the Grand Slam's Canadian Open did nothing to shake the confidence of Manitoba's Ryan Fry.

Although Alberta's reigning world champion Randy Ferbey edged Fry 7-5 at the MTS Centre yesterday, the youngster still believes that he not only belongs with curling's elite but can actually beat the whole bunch.

"We think we are good enough to be playing against those guys," Fry asserted. "For the first four or five ends, we probably out-played them pretty good. It was just the sixth end that wasn't so good."

Nor the final score. No matter.

"I don't think anyone playing in this is coming here thinking they can't win," added Fry, 27. "We put our dues in. We've played against most of these guys regularly and had some success so, why not go for the gusto?

"Confidence is half the battle. If you don't think you can go out and play with (Alberta's) Kevin (Martin) and Randy, then you're already behind the 8-ball before you even start. So, why not go the opposite way and think you're better than them?"

Fry then dropped an 8-6 decision to Newfoundland's Brad Gushue last night.

"Just one of those days," said Fry, supported by third Kyle Werenich, second Ross McFadyen and Cory Naharnie. "We thought we were playing pretty well for the most part. Just some days, other teams play a little bit better and the breaks didn't go our way. But it was all our errors which can go unseen once in a while. Oh well, we'll start fresh (today) and try to win our two games.

"These are the best teams in the world. It's great experience for our team. It would be more fun to beat them. We'll just take what we've learned, come out (today) shooting and try to get to 2-2."

Fry had plenty of Manitoba company as all three other local squads dropped their openers last night. Alberta's Martin improved to 2-0 with an 8-6 win over Jeff Stoughton; Quebec's Pierre Charette downed Randy Dutiaume 8-5 and Ontario's Glenn Howard beat Dave Boehmer 8-4.

"(Martin) came off a game where they'd thrown already and they kind of got a jump because we were mis-reading some of the ice a little bit," Stoughton said after his first game since losing the Olympic trials final in Halifax. "But the guys played pretty well and I'll take it.

"I don't think any of us were really comfortable or really into it that much (after Halifax). Hopefully, the next game will be a little bit better."

Ferbey also improved to 2-0 with a 10-6 victory over fellow Albertan John Morris.

Even Winnipeg native David Nedohin, who throws the last brick for Ferbey, was impressed with Fry.

"We knew they were playing very well," he said. "They played a lot this year to get into this. They earned their way in, which is fantastic. They were coming in on a big high and we were coming in on a bit of a down so, we had to make sure we came and played well or it wouldn't be a win for us."

Play continues today with draws at noon, 4 and 8 p.m.

CROWDS: Paid attendance was 3,500 for the opening draw and 4,500 for the late one but there were no more than 2,000 present for the first and barely 3,000 for the second.